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Staffing

Examiner: Grace PrettyModerator: Paul Bramston

Requisites

Pre-requisite: PSY8010 and PSY8050

Rationale

There are mental health challenges for which group interventions are implicated as best practice, especially those requiring the acquisition of social and communication skills, lifestyle behaviour change and the building of self confidence and self esteem in the presence of others. Group interventions are also a source of therapy and support when individual assistance is not available due to lack of resources. This course compliments the program's individual intervention courses for practitioners to develop, provide and assess therapeutic groups in various community health settings.

Synopsis

This course provides students with an understanding of conceptual underpinnings of group psychotherapy and stages of change, and evidence of efficacy in its application to various mental health problems. Students will engage in self reflective exercises to gain awareness of their personal and professional strengths and challenges in engaging in group settings. Students will integrate this self awareness with knowledge of group facilitation processes to acquire therapeutic skills, for developing and assessing processes and outcomes within the contexts of ethical professional practice.

Objectives

On completion of this course students should be able to:

explain various conceptual models of therapeutic group intervention;

critically use research regarding the evidence for group interventions for particular mental health issues;

explain how group interventions can improve individual health and well-being;

critically reflect on their personal strengths and challenges in engaging with groups and generate from this their own lifelong learning goals with respect to group facilitation.

Topics

Description

Weighting(%)

1.

The roles for group intervention in mental health service delivery

5.00

2.

Conceptual models of how group intervention can facilitate individual change

15.00

3.

Understanding group dynamics and stages of group process

15.00

4.

Ethical and professional issues involved in group therapy

10.00

5.

Pre-group design and planning

5.00

6.

Intake interviewing

5.00

7.

Group facilitation and therapeutic strategies

30.00

8.

Evaluation and Termination processes

15.00

Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed

ALL textbooks and materials available to be purchased can be sourced from USQ's Online Bookshop (unless otherwise stated). (https://bookshop.usq.edu.au/bookweb/subject.cgi?year=2012&sem=02&subject1=PSY8030)

Important assessment information

Attendance requirements:
It is the students' responsibility to attend and participate appropriately in all activities (such as lectures, tutorials, forum discussion and practical work) scheduled for them, and to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration. There are three, 2 day compulsory on-campus workshops during the semester.

Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
To complete each of the assessment items satisfactorily, students must obtain at least 50% of the marks available for each assessment item. Students also need to be able to demonstrate that they have acquired the competencies described under Assessment Notes.

Penalties for late submission of required work:
If students submit assignments after the due date without (prior) approval of the examiner then a penalty of 5% of the total marks gained by the student for the assignment may apply for each working day late up to ten working days at which time a mark of zero may be recorded

Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.

Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the weighted aggregate of the marks (or grades) obtained for each of the summative assessment items in the course.

Examination information:
There is no examination in this course.

Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
There will be no Deferred or Supplementary examinations in this course.

University Student Policies:
Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene University policies and practices. These policies can be found at http://policy.usq.edu.au.

Assessment notes

This course should be taken in the second year of the Doctorate of Psychology course. This course assumes that students have successfully completed the courses Individual Assessments and Individual Interventions.

The due date for an assignment is the date by which a student must despatch the assignment to the USQ. The onus is on the student to provide proof of the despatch date, if requested by the Examiner.

Students must retain a copy of each item submitted for assessment. This must be produced within five days if required by the Examiner.

Students will require access to email and internet access to UConnect for this course.

APA style is the referencing system required in this course. Students should use APA style in their assignments to format details of the information sources they have cited in their work. The APA style to be used is defined by the USQ Library's referencing guide. http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing

In Workshops 2 & 3 students will engage experientially as group facilitators and group members. Each student will lead the class in a one-hour session based on a topic related to working through personal challenges in group facilitation. This session will be recorded for the student’s later analysis for the essay, and will be assessed by the participants and the examiner who will observe the group.

At the end of the course the student will write a 5,000 word essay on the theme “Integrating empirical and personal perspectives on what makes groups therapeutic”.. The essay contains two components: a critical literature review of evidence for the efficacy of group psychotherapy in addressing a mental health concern of the student’s choice and 2.a self reflection of competencies based on the self reflective exercises and experiences in the groups as participant and facilitator.